Having read this now, cover to cover, a couple weeks ahead of what is ordinary (but not for me) major surgery (total knee replacement), I feel much less fear and anxiety and much more peace and confidence heading into the challenge. Recommended not jHaving read this now, cover to cover, a couple weeks ahead of what is ordinary (but not for me) major surgery (total knee replacement), I feel much less fear and anxiety and much more peace and confidence heading into the challenge. Recommended not just for anyone facing surgery, but also other treatments such as chemo and radiation. I may well buy her meditation recording on MP3 for further practice before the surgery. (The library edition I read did not include the CD.)...more

Preview — Letting Everything Become Your Teacher
by Jon Kabat-Zinn

“TO BE HOPEFUL in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”
―
Howard Zinn

“Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you -- beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.”
―
Edward Abbey

“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
―
Rainer Maria Rilke,
Letters to a Young Poet

“The silence is all there is. It is the alpha and the omega, it is God's brooding over the face of the waters; it is the blinded note of the ten thousand things, the whine of wings. You take a step in the right direction to pray to this silence, and even to address the prayer to "World." Distinctions blur. Quit your tents. Pray without ceasing.”
―
Annie Dillard,
Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

Unitarian Universalists
— 191 members
— last activity May 30, 2017 10:43AM
A discussion group for Unitarian Universalists, UU friends, and people interested in Unitarian Universalism. (For more about Unitarian Universalism, vA discussion group for Unitarian Universalists, UU friends, and people interested in Unitarian Universalism. (For more about Unitarian Universalism, visit http://www.uua.org.)...more

The Creative Spark with Uvi Poznansky
— 256 members
— last activity Dec 02, 2017 04:56PM
It's a pleasure meeting you here in Uvi's Corner! Let us make it a cosy, intimate place, a place where we can exchange ideas about the creative procesIt's a pleasure meeting you here in Uvi's Corner! Let us make it a cosy, intimate place, a place where we can exchange ideas about the creative process, post reviews, discuss books. For starters just visit my site, uviart.com and my blog, uviart.blogspot.com. I am open to learn from you how you view art and writing, and the creative process.
If you have already read my books, or are in the process of reading one of them, feel free to offer your thoughts. Also, share excerpts of your writing, so we may all offer gentle feedback....more

Justice and Spirit: Unitarian Universalist Book Club
— 408 members
— last activity Feb 02, 2018 07:09AM
Life never stops sending new spiritual challenges our way. How do we, as individuals and communities, search for truth and meaning, strive for justiceLife never stops sending new spiritual challenges our way. How do we, as individuals and communities, search for truth and meaning, strive for justice and action, navigate our spiritual journeys, and live out our values? Justice and Spirit: The Unitarian Universalist Book Club is a place where all who are interested in spirituality, religion, and social justice, whether Unitarian Universalist or not, can discuss books that relate to these crucial questions. We hope to foster deep, meaningful conversations and a welcoming and loving environment. All are welcome.
Sponsored by Skinner House Books and Beacon Press
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Love Never Forgets
— 385 members
— last activity Feb 26, 2017 04:01PM
Love Never Forgets is an opportunity to share thoughts on the novel The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth, now available in hardcover. Stay tuned for Love Never Forgets is an opportunity to share thoughts on the novel The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth, now available in hardcover. Stay tuned for news on Hepworth's next novel, The Mother's Promise, coming in 2017!...more